Calcavecchia Wins British Open in 3-Way Playoff - NYTimes.com Calcavecchia Wins British Open in 3-Way Playoff By GORDON S. WHITE Jr., Special to The New York Times Published: July 24, 1989 TROON, Scotland, July 23— Mark Calcavecchia, who said earlier this year that he would rather win the Ryder Cup back for the United States than win a major championship, won his first major championship today by taking the 118th British Open in the first four-hole playoff ever staged at the world's oldest golf tournament. The 29-year-old slugger, who birdied the final hole of regulation to gain the tie and the fourth and final hole of the playoff to win, beat two Australians, Greg Norman and Wayne Grady. Those birdies were actually at the same hole: the par-4 18th at Royal Troon Golf Club. Calcavecchia won with two pars and two birdies for 13 strokes in the medal playoff to three pars and a bogey by Grady for his 16 strokes.

Norman, whose bad luck in major playoffs continued, had two birdies and a par, then picked up after going into two bunkers and then out of bounds on the fourth hole. Course Record for Norman Norman, who started the day seven shots back of Grady's lead, opened with six straight birdies and shot a Royal Troon course record 64 to tie. Grady surrendered a two-shot lead with five holes left in regulation play of 72 holes to fall into the tie. Calcavecchia, who came from three shots off the lead when the final round began and birdied two of the last three holes in regulation, became the first United States golfer to win the British Open since Tom Watson in 1983. It was Norman's third loss in a major championship playoff and his fourth runner-up finish in a major he seemed to have in hand. He won the British Open in 1986. The 31-year-old Grady had never been in contention for a major before and bogeyed two of the last five holes to lose the lead he held from the second round to the 17th hole today.

He three-putted the 14th and landed in a bunker at 17 for those costly bogeys. He also landed in a bunker at 17 in the playoff for a bogey. Calcavecchia was tied with Norman after three of the four extra holes and won with the birdie by sinking a 6-foot putt after a fine 4-iron approach from the right rough. He called the approach ''the best shot I ever hit.'' The three men were tied at 13-under 275 at the conclusion of 72 holes of the championship played on Royal Troon's rock-hard fairways, which were bordered by thin rough after weeks of hot, dry weather along the normally rainy western coast of Scotland. Calcavecchia shot four-under 68 and Grady had one-under 71 today, finishing two hours after Norman broke Jack Nicklaus's Troon record of 65, which was set in the 1973 British Open. While Calcavecchia took a major victory and Norman suffered another loss in one of the four majors, Watson, a five-time British Open champion, also fell short again.

Trailing in second place behind Grady by two shots after two rounds and by only one after the third round, Watson missed by shooting par 72 today. He finished fourth, two shots back of the three men who tied. The two Australians and the one American went out to settle it in the playoff by playing Royal Troon's 1st, 2d, 17th and 18th holes. That was three par-4 holes and the par-3 17th. New Format It was the 10th playoff in the history of the British Open, the first since 1975 and the first under the format instituted in 1985, which calls for four holes of stroke play followed by sudden death if the medal score results in a tie. Previous playoffs were either one 18-hole round the next day or, many years ago, 36 holes the next day. This was the first time more than two men met in a British Open playoff. After Norman went out of bounds and Grady parred the last hole, Calcavecchia replaced the ball he had marked only 6 feet from the hole at No. 18.

''I put the ball down and just said, 'Man, I can three-putt to win the British Open,' '' he recalled. ''I just wanted to make sure I didn't hit the ball twice with the putter.'' Calcavecchia, a native of Nebraska who lives in Florida and is building a family home in Phoenix, gained his third victory of the year and earned the British equivalent of $128,000. He won the Phoenix Open and the Los Angeles Open on the American PGA Tour last winter. As a result, he has earned a spot on the American Ryder Cup team, which will meet the European team in September in England. The Europeans won the last two times the biennial match was played, in 1987 and 1985. Shortly after his second victory this year, Calcavecchia said: ''I want to go over there and win the Ryder Cup really badly.

But believe me, if we go over there and lose, it won't be a great year regardless of what happens anywhere else.'' But after winning today, Calcavecchia said, ''The reason I said that back then was I didn't figure I'd win a major.'' The British Open champion is going to become a father for the first time any day now. Immediately after walking off the 18th green, he called his wife, Sheryl, in West Palm Beach. ''Before I could ask, she said, 'No, I haven't had the baby yet,' '' Calcavecchia said. ''Believe me, it was on my mind. I just hoped I didn't send my wife into labor with this. She was watching on TV.'' Calcavecchia, who had only three victories on the PGA Tour in seven years before 1989, scrambled a lot today to make the playoff. He rolled in a 40-foot par putt at the 11th and somehow rammed a 60-foot wedge shot directly into the hole for a birdie at the 12th. He had a difficult lie after two shots there. ''I was embarrassed,'' he said.

''How lucky can you be?'' Then he sank a 30-foot birdie putt at the 15th and a 4-foot birdie putt at the 18th of regulation to get the tie. But it was just at the time he made the last regulation birdie that Grady bogeyed 17 so they were all tied. Norman, with his six straight birds and record score, actually did not have a bad shot all day. The last drive into the bunker at 18 was over 310 yards and rolled in because of the hard fairways. Norman lost a playoff for the 1984 United States Open title to Fuzzy Zoeller; one for the 1987 Masters, when Larry Mize chipped into the second hole, and today's playoff. Bob Tway beat him in the 1986 PGA Championship by blasting from a bunker into the final hole. ''Happy as I was, I felt very bad for Greg,'' Calcavecchia said. ''The things that have happened to him in major championships where it looked like he would win have just been amazing. He shot 64, knew he had to and did.

That says a lot for him.'' Photo of Mark Calcavecchia hugging Drake Oddy, his caddie, after winning the British Open in a four-hole playoff in Troon, Scotland. (Reuters) Mark Calcavecchia - PGA Golfer - 2017 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com Latest News Recent News Past champ Mark Calcavecchia returns to the site of his lone major championship title in 759 career PGA TOUR starts and heads out on Thursday at 12:31 p.m. (local) with former champs Todd Hamilton and Justin Leonard in the first round of the 145th Open Championship. This is the ninth offering of The Open at Royal Troon Golf Club and Calcavecchia won the sixth playing in 1989, outlasting Aussie's Wayne Grady and Greg Norman (playoff) in his third overall appearance. He's one of 16 past champions in the field and joins fellow Americans Hamilton (2004) and Leonard (1997) as the three most recent champs at Royal Troon.

In total, it's the 56-year-old's 29th appearance since T11 on debut in 1987, though the first eight were, at the time, Unofficial Events on the PGA TOUR. He's played in every edition since with the exception of 2014 when he had travel issues. The Nebraska native has missed three of his last four cuts, but turned back the clock with a T9 in 2012 (Royal Lytham) at 52 years of age. Tue, Jul 12, 2016 07:23:00 PM Source: TheOpen.com The second round of the 144th Open Championship has been suspended after heavy rain waterlogged the course. UPDATE: The second round resumed at 10:00. The first group out -- 1989 Open champ Mark Calcavecchia, Jaco Van Zyl and Marcel Siem -- teed off as scheduled at 6:32 a.m. local time. But before the threesome could complete the opening hole, play was suspended at 6:46 a.m.

after almost an inch of rain left parts of the Old Course under water and unplayable. At 8:40 a.m., the Open website reported that the heavy rain had ceased and the greenkeeping staff were now starting the clean-up operation. Head greenkeeper Gordon Moir had earlier told BBC Sport, "It will take up to an hour and a half to clear the water. We're not sure when play will start. We've had about 19mm of rain since 6am and we're expecting another heavy shower." UPDATE: With play resuming at 10.00, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth will tee off at around 6:00 p.m. and have no chance of completing the second round today. Fri, Jul 17, 2015 03:59:00 AM Source: BBC.co.uk Mark Calcavecchia returns to Trump International Golf Club-Puerto Rico for his second Puerto Rico Open. His only other venture to this event resulted in a T24 in 2010. The Champion's Tour member has only Past Champion Status, so expectations should not be all that high.

He last made the cut in a PGA TOUR event last year in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, finishing in a tie for 34th. Tue, Mar 3, 2015 08:14:00 PM Source: PGATOUR.com Mark Calcavecchia has been removed from the published field of this week's Open Championship. According to his Twitter page , the 1989 champion at Royal Troon experienced travel issues. At 10:58 a.m. ET, Calc tweeted, "Right now I thought I'd be on 3rd hole of mini practice rd at the Open!! Best we could do is a flight to West Palm Beach." Tue, Jul 15, 2014 12:38:00 PM Questions for ... Mark Calcavecchia | Golf.com Questions for ... Mark Calcavecchia Mark Calcavecchia won 13 times on the PGA Tour. by Farrell Evans Posted: Wed Jul. 7, 2010 Updated: Mon Dec. 1, 2014 Install App After 28 years on the PGA Tour, you turned 50 on June 12 and quickly joined the Champions Tour.

Were you ready for a change? I've been looking forward to going to the Champions Tour for about three years. It's tough out on the PGA Tour. Although I did win out there when I was 45 [the 2005 Bell Canadian Open] and 47 [the 2007 PODS Championship], other than Kenny Perry there is nobody out there between 45 and 50 years old playing good on a consistent basis. That doesn't mean that I couldn't have a great tournament. Why is the Champions Tour so attractive to you? The main thing out here is that there is no cut. That's the thing that was killing me on the regular tour. The last year and half to two years I showed up just hoping to make the cut. I was playing real cautiously the first couple of days and trying not to make a mistake because I wanted to make the cut. When you think that way that's not very good. Now you are guaranteed a check and three rounds of golf. The good news and bad news about the three-round tournaments is that if you don't have a very good first day then you're screwed because there is not enough time to make up for it.

The other thing is that for a year as a rookie I'm stuck playing two pro-ams every week. From 1982 until now you played a full schedule on the PGA Tour. It's pretty amazing that you kept your card for the better part of three decades. A couple of times in the early '80s I had to go back to Q-School to earn playing privileges for the next year. But since 1986 I was always fully exempt. I think the reason for that is that my swing never gets far off. I always hit it decent enough to never go into a bad slump. You've been a Ping man your entire career. That seems rare in today's game when guys jump around from club deal to club deal, looking for money or a better fit for their game. For 20 years I played the Ping Eye 2 Blue Dot irons, which are 1 degree upright. To this day I'm still close to that. I'm about a half-degree upright now.

On the PGA Tour you won 13 times from your first win at the Southwest Golf Classic in 1986 to your last win at the PODS in 2007, but your best years were from about 1988 to 1991, including your 1989 British Open win at Royal Troon. That was probably the best that I played, mainly because of my short game. I considered myself, at the time, other than Seve Ballesteros and Ken Green, as having the best short game in the world. I putted very well and I got up and down from everywhere. I actually had a stretch from the end of '88 through '89 where I won six tournaments in about eight months. What do you remember most about the 1989 British Open? I remember being really confident. I never really got that nervous. The weather was spectacular at Troon. There were having a drought and it was about 75 degrees every day with not more than a 10 to 15 mph wind. The course was basically brown and dead and the ball was rolling a long way.

I guess the thing I remember most from that Sunday is flying that chip shot on the 12th hole and after that I basically didn't miss a shot for the rest of the day. You took your regular caddie to that British Open, but you don't have a reputation for using the same caddie from year to year or even from week to week. Why is that? To me that always kept things kind of exciting. My longest caddie was with me for seven years and he went everywhere with me. But I can't count the number of caddies I've had over the years. I've only had three guys that I would even call permanent. Since '95 I've switched around. The only downside to that is that it does become a pain in the rear end when you have 20 caddies running up to you every day begging to carry your bag. At the Canadian Open last year you set a PGA Tour record for consecutive birdies with nine. You have always been one of those players that could make bunches of birdies and take it really low. One year at Kapalua I was seven under through six.

But I had never had more than six birdies in a row, even in a practice round. It was pretty incredible to make nine in a row. The balls you played with in 1982 must seem like the old feather-filled ones from the 18th century today. The balls went nowhere when I came on Tour and they curved twice as much as they do today. The first metal drivers look like 7-woods. The golf ball goes about 30 yards farther than it did 30 years ago. One year in the early '80s I finished fourth in driving distance with an average of 273 yards. You are the most famous golfer from Nebraska. Definitely. I am the greatest golfer ever from the Cornhusker State. I was 13 when we moved to Florida, where my dad's brothers and sisters lived. The whole reason we moved there is because my dad had come down with multiple sclerosis and the cold Nebraska winters made it very difficult for him. Did your game take off in Florida or was it already really good when you lived in Nebraska? We had a little nine-hole course where I lived in Nebraska and I was entirely self-taught.

I would go around the course four or five times a day and I just learned how to hit shots. But we didn't have bunkers, water or trees. It was just a cornfield. So when I got to Florida I could hit it, but there was a lot of things that I didn't know how to do. Still I was as good as any junior in Florida. What are your goals for playing on the Champions Tour? Unless you're Hale Irwin you probably have a five-year window from 50 to 55 to make most of your money. I want to play until I'm 60. But for the next five or six years is the time when I think I'm going to win some tournaments out here. I'm the young guy out here all of sudden. I need to put some cash in the bank. My wife and I just built a big house down in Jupiter, Fla., and I have to pay for that. You're heading to St. Andrews next week for the British Open for fifth time. What do you expect to happen there? Counting my times playing the Old Course in the Dunhill Cup, I have probably played the course 40 times.

How it plays depends on the wind and the weather. When you get nice weather there you can shoot a pretty good score if you can keep it out of the bunkers. There are a decent amount of easy holes. But I've noticed over the years that the pin placements have gotten screwier. They are being placed on the top of little ridges and humps. I guess they are trying to protect the course a little bit. Mainly though it's the weather that affects things. I remember one year it was blowing about 40 mph until 3 p.m. and then the late tee times got perfect conditions: the low 23 scores that day came in tee times that started after 3 p.m. What will you miss about the regular Tour? I will miss some people and places that I traveled to over the years, and there are places that I certainly won't miss. But the main thing is that it's the major leagues of golf. Winning out there is a big deal. For a week you're the best player in the world. Four Ryder Cups, 13 wins and a major. Did you miss any chances? Absolutely. But I only say that because I finished second 27 times in my career.

Of that 27 times I gave away 7 to 10 tournaments that I felt that I should have won. I could have had another major. The whole back nine at the '88 Masters I thought I was going to win. Sandy Lyle beat me by a couple of shots after he made a bomb at 16 and a birdie on the 18th after it looked like he could make bogey playing from the fairway bunker. But that's history. What's next for Tiger? We've seen enough out of him in the last 14 years to not underestimate him. But I don't think he's swinging very well and he's obviously going through a tough time. But he has to be the clear favorite at St. Andrews with his record there. No one can play that course as well as he can. How do you like your chances? Two old guys and former British Open winners  Tom Watson and Greg Norman  should have won in back to back years. That's one thing about St. Andrews. The length doesn't matter if it's playing hard and fast. In fact the last time we played there in '05 the fairways might have been faster than the greens.

There is no doubt that if everything goes right I can do well there. More From the Web Russ Cochran wins Senior British Open by 2 strokes over Mark Calcavecchia | Golf.com Photo: Paul Harding/Zuma Press Russ Cochran won his first career major title at the Senior British Open. WALTON ON THE HILL, England (AP)  Russ Cochran toasted a family victory at the Senior British Open on Sunday, capturing his first major title with his son as caddie to maintain the United States' recent dominance of the tournament. With his 25-year-old son Reed carrying his bag, Cochran shot a second straight 5-under 67 in the final round at Walton Heath to win by two shots over compatriot Mark Calcavecchia. "He relaxed me out there," Cochran said of Reed, who is on his summer break from law school. "He made me smile and was great to be with." Ryan, the 52-year-old Cochran's eldest son, was also present to witness his father's first victory on this year's Champions Tour - he was caddying for another American, Mike Goodes.

"It's a big hump I've got over there," said Cochran, whose victory qualifies him for next year's British Open at Royal Lytham. "To do it in a major and on this golf course means so much. And to do it with the kids here, it's even better." Cochran became the eighth player from the U.S. in the last nine years to win the Senior British Open. He achieved the biggest victory of his career by staying consistent on the tee and rolling in a series of pressure putts, closing the tournament at 12 under to claim a winner's check of $310,000. He made six birdies in the first 10 holes - two coming on the first two holes - to open up a five-shot lead as Calcavecchia, who shared the overnight lead with Cochran and South Africa's David Frost, dropped back by four-putting from 15 feet on the par-3 No. 9. Cochran's bogey on No. 14, combined with Calcavecchia's birdies on Nos. 12 and 15, trimmed the lead to two shots. But the champion-elect parred his way home, looking completely unruffled.

The 61-year-old Tom Watson, looking for a record fourth Open title, rolled back the years with a vintage 67 to finish tied for third with 2010 runner-up Corey Pavin at 9 under - leaving the U.S. with the top four placings. England's Barry Lane (70) was the highest-placed European, a shot back in fifth. Nothing more than a journeyman on the regular tour with only one victory to his name - at the 1991 Centel Western Open when he overhauled Greg Norman in the final round - Cochran has blossomed in his three seasons on the senior circuit. He won back-to-back tournaments in a three-week span in September last year and has played himself into regular contention at the majors, finishing third at the Senior U.S. Open in 2009 for a key breakthrough and a check for $175,152. That qualified him for the tour's high-profile events and he tied for third at last year's Senior British Open at Carnoustie.

"I've actually mentioned it to my boys on more than one occasion, that I felt that if I was going to do some damage in a major and win a major, it probably would be here," Cochran said. "I enjoy the type of golf it is. I am more single-minded over here, and I just love the golf over here." His only previous British Open came in 1992, when he tied for 28th at Muirfield. Cochran was playing just his second tournament after injuring his wrist during the second round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament in late April, keeping him out for two months. He returned at Pebble Beach two weeks ago for the Nature Valley First Tee Open, finishing tied for 10th. "I liked him better when he was injured," Calcavecchia said, with a smile. The 51-year-old Calcavecchia was bidding to become the fourth player to achieve the British Open double, after his success as a regular-tour player at Troon in 1989, but stumbled with an all-too-familiar lapse in focus. He was at a loss to explain how he needed three putts from 2 feet on the short No.

9, shaking his head ruefully as he trudged off the green. A minute later, Cochran birdied No. 7 and that three-shot swing proved decisive. "The four-whack on the ninth hole, those usually hurt you," Calcavecchia said. Frost shot 72 to finish sixth at 7 under, a stroke clear of Australia's Peter Fowler (70) and American trio Fred Funk (66), Lee Rinker (71) and Goodes (71). Cochran heads to next week's Senior U.S Open brimming with confidence and will look to emulate Bernhard Langer, who crossed the Atlantic last year to win back-to-back majors. "I'm certainly the kind of guy that carries those good feelings," Cochran said.

"All I can say is I'm going to try to go there, do the research on getting my legs underneath me and my sleep patterns right, throw it in there and go from there." More From the Web Why the 1989 British Open at Troon resonates - Golf Digest Why the 1989 British Open at Troon resonates By LinkedIn Getty Images 1989: Portrait of Mark Calcavecchia of the USA holding the Claret Jug after winning the British Open at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. Calcavecchia won the event after a three way four hole play-off. \ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport Some tournaments stay in the mind longer and more vividly than others. Though all golf courses are beautiful, sometimes there’s something particular about the physical stage where the key moments play out that imprints indelible images and accompanying sensations. RELATED: Know Your British Open Courses Such events don’t have to be major championships. But because its stark and elemental links atmosphere enhances all the senses, the Open Championship is best for creating such scenes. Troon in 1989 was such a place. It’s far from the most picturesque of Open venues.

Even though the town and course lie hard on the coastline of the Firth of Clyde, the setting is spare and dour, accented by unlovely things like a trailer park, the institutional Marine Hotel and a suitably ancient but not particularly charming clubhouse. From afar, the course seems flat and featureless. But close up, from a golfer’s perspective, the layout’s subtle humps and bumps create lies that with varying winds make it endlessly interesting. Troon is a mixture of easy holes and incredibly hard ones, especially coming home against the wind. The club’s motto, “As much by skill as by strength,” might be even better than Hoylake’s “Far and sure.” Pinterest Getty Images The ’89 championship gained momentum each day. It marked my first encounter with David Feherty, then a 30-year-old, two-time winner on the European Tour.

Through 54 holes, Feherty was three off the lead (he would finish T-6) and had regaled the press with tales of the yips, sport psychologists and being a former opera student who relaxed by doing arias from Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Puccini’s “Turandot.” He possessed a kinetic intelligence and a startling sense of humor. The idea that he would become one of golf’s all-time characters wouldn’t have been implausible. Wayne Grady played the steadiest golf, keeping the lead for nearly all of the final 36 holes. But two bogeys over the last five holes cost him. Greg Norman, who started the day seven strokes behind, sent a jolt through the proceedings when he birdied the first six holes. His only bogey of the round would come on the 123-yard Postage Stamp eighth, where he bunkered a 9-iron. After he finished with a 64 an hour and a half before the leaders, Norman said, “I’ve had a few majors taken from me.

Maybe it’s my turn to have one handed to me.” He might have added to his all-time total of hot rounds in a major championship, but the words were not great karma. Then Mark Calcavecchia, a rumpled 29-year-old whose combination of power and touch was under-appreciated, hit a lucky streak. As described in his entertaining Calc-speak, he hit “a duck slice into the right gunch” on the railway-bordered 11th, then a par 5, but made a 40-footer for par. From greenside rough on the 12th, he called on the 60-degree wedge that he was a master of before Phil Mickelson. The flop shot flew about 20 yards, one-bounced into the bottom of the stick and fell straight down for birdie. Pinterest Getty Images I went out to watch Calcavecchia play the 18th. After a big drive that he noted finished just in front of a death bunker 305 yards from the tee, he striped an 8-iron to seven feet and made the putt to tie Norman. Then Grady finished with par for a three-way tie.

The trio went out for the first four-hole playoff in a major championship. Just before gloaming, in a golden light amid the lightest of winds, with the sea in the background, the scene had the artificial perfection of a big-budget movie. Norman, looking like an action hero, birdied the first from six feet. After Calcavecchia ran in a 35-footer on the second, Norman topped him with a 10-footer. The Shark was still up by one. RELATED: The Best Bets, Wagers and Props at the 2016 British Open Then Norman, as he had before in majors he should have won, let it slip. On the 223-yard 17th, he flushed a 3-iron—“He over-pured it; he over-smoked it,” Calcavecchia said—through the green. The ball stopped about six feet past the putting surface and 45 feet from the hole, but in just enough rough that Norman felt he couldn’t putt, though Calcavecchia said he was surprised that he didn’t. Norman gunned the chip, the ball hitting the left edge of the hole but running 10 feet past.

When he missed, he and Calcavecchia were tied. On 18, I was parked right behind the tee as Calcavecchia hit first, pushing his drive into the right rough on the 452-yard par 4. “I knew the bunker was reachable, and that was why I hit a flare in the playoff,” he said. Norman, the best driver in the game, then stepped up and screamed a hard cut through the light wind down the right center. “His caddie, Bruce Edwards, said, ‘Beauty, Greg,’ “ and he bends down to pick up his tee,” Calcavecchia said. “I’m on the other side of the tee, and I saw it just catch the left edge of this bunker and roll up and pop back down. And I’m like, Whoa, he’s going to be pissed.” As Jack Nicklaus said on the ABC telecast, “Oh my gosh, he reached the unreachable bunker." Pinterest Getty Images American golfer Mark Calcavecchia wins the British Open at the Royal Troon Golf Club, Scotland, 23rd July 1989.

(Photo by Simon Bruty/Getty Images) Calcavecchia was left with 202 yards from a not-great lie. As he prepared to hit a 5-iron, I remember being struck by his relaxed intensity and fluid movement. It was his time, and the sound produced was unmistakably that of a perfect strike. “I hit it so good I was just watching it and almost didn’t care where it went,” Calcavecchia would say. “It was like, Wherever the hell it ends up, it’s all right with me because that’s the best I got.” Landing on the front of the green, it rolled within seven feet of the hole. With the ball looking even closer than that, Norman went for broke. But even though he had only 156 yards to the hole, the ball was just three feet from the steep face and sitting down in the sand. His 8-iron shot hit the bank, and expired in another bunker, from where he would blade it O.B. over the green. On the telecast, Nicklaus said softly but firmly, “He needed to give himself a chance to make a 4.” It was a microcosmic moment.

RELATED: Justin Leonard Returns To Royal Troon Calcavecchia went on to win by three over Grady. Norman was magnanimous, but this came after four years of cruel close calls, including bogeying the 72nd at the Masters three months before to miss a playoff by one. Norman would go into the biggest slump of his career, from which he would not fully emerge until he won the 1993 Open at Royal St. George’s. Both players were star-crossed in their way. As Golf World showed in 2014, Norman was second only to Tiger Woods as the game’s best player since 1980. Yet Norman's legacy is more defined by what could have been. As for Calcavecchia, who still plays successfully on the PGA Tour Champions, if he were allowed to redistribute only slightly his 13 career victories against 27 seconds, he would be heading for the Hall of Fame. I can still see them both at Troon.

British Open: John Daly's 1995 victory among major's most unexpected | Other Sports | Sporting News British Open: John Daly's 1995 victory among major's most unexpected SPORT July 15, 2013 2:16pm EDT July 15, 2013 1:32pm EDT Adam Scott (Masters) and Justin Rose (U.S. Open) are two of the world's best and own the first two majors this season. The British Open has provided unexpected winners over the years. Will this year do the same? Alex Myers, Golf Digest Published on Jul. 15, 2013 Jul. 15, 2013 With two of the world's best players (Adam Scott and Justin Rose) winning the first two major championships of 2013, perhaps the British Open is due to have another surprising winner. We look at the players who were able to break through unexpectably at golf's oldest major.

Darren Clarke, 2011 Despite his reputation as a world-class player, Clarke wasn't on anyone's radar at Royal St George's having not finished in the top 10 of a major championship in more than a decade. But with one of the best ball-striking weeks of his life, Clarke won by three shots to keep alive an incredible stretch in majors by players from Northern Ireland. Louis Oosthuizen, 2010 The South African took advantage of a good weather draw early and never let up, winning by seven shots and forcing ESPN broadcasters to scramble to learn how to pronounce his name. Many turned to simply going by his nickname: "Shrek." Ranked 54th in the world and with just one European Tour win under his belt coming in, the 27-year-old Oosthuizen led for the final 48 holes. Todd Hamilton, 2004 The widely unknown American stirred the echoes of past British Open champions by playing perfect, low running shots around the green all week. The only difference? He did it while wielding a hybrid club and not a mashie niblick.

What made his win even more surprising was the fact he took down Hall of Famer Ernie Els in a playoff. MORE FROM GOLFDIGEST.COM: Major blowups | Schedule/results Ben Curtis, 2003 Ranked 396th in the world rankings, it was an upset for the 26-year-old Ohio native to even qualify for the field at Royal St. George's. Curtis was making his major championship debut and had never even finished in the top 10 of a PGA Tour event. But on a wild Sunday, his 69 left him as the only player in the field under par. Making his win even more stunning was the fact that he hung on to win by one against a loaded leader board that included Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, and Thomas Bjorn. Paul Lawrie, 1999 Lost in all the attention surrounding Jean Van de Velde's infamous collapse on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie was the surprising play of a 30-year-old Scotsman.

Lawrie shot a Sunday 67 (his previous best round of the week was 73) and then beat Van de Velde and Justin Leonard in a four-hole playoff to complete the largest final-round comeback (10 shots) in major championship history. Lawrie hasn't finished higher than T-42 at the Open since. John Daly, 1995 Sure, JD arrived at St. Andrews with a major under his belt—one of the most improbable wins ever at the 1991 PGA Championship—but do you think any of the game's founders ever could have imagined a man with a mullet and wearing a green sweatshirt winning at the birthplace of golf? Also, he came to the tournament really struggling with zero top 10s and five missed cuts in his first 16 starts of the season. But using his incredible length, Daly overpowered the Old Course and defeated another upstart, Italy's Constantino Rocca, in a playoff. He's had one top 25 at a major since —a T-15 at the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews.

Mark Calcavecchia, 1989 Always known as a streak player, Calc, then 29, certainly had it going at Royal Troon with three straight 68s. He then beat Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a four-hole playoff despite the Shark birdieing the first two extra holes. Calcavecchia wound up having a very good career, but this remains his lone major title. What makes his win even more unlikely is that he has only one other top 10 at the British Open in all his years as a pro: A T-10 in 1997. At what venue? You guessed it, Troon. Bill Rogers, 1981 More than two decades before Curtis' win, Royal St. George's produced another surprising American winner. In 1981, everything was going right for Rogers as he beat Bernhard Langer by four shots. The win was one of his four that year during a PGA Player of the Year campaign. It's even more impressive when you consider he only had six wins in his entire PGA Tour career.

Kel Nagle, 1960 As a sign of golf becoming a more global sport, the Australian claimed the only major championship of a long career at the age of 39. What made it more shocking was the fact he'd never finished in the top 10 of any major previously and that he held off Arnold Palmer to claim the claret jug. He would go on to win two times on the PGA Tour, finish runner-up at the 1965 U.S. Open and be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007. Max Faulkner, 1951 Before Ian Poulter, Faulkner was England's snazzy-dressing golfer. He made his biggest statement, however, in 1951 when he finished two shots clear of Antonio Cerda. Impressively, his big win came just five years after he started playing tournament golf. Previously, he had been an accomplished boxer while serving in the British Royal Air Force during World War II.

Fred Daly, 1947 Long before Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy turned Northern Ireland into a major-winning juggernaut, Daly put the country on the golfing map with his lone major title. Partly as a sign of the times, Daly never even played in any of golf's other three professional majors.

Question: On which course did golfer Mark Calcavecchia win his only (British) Open?
Answer: TROON